Vacuum grain-cleaner



/ C. A. TORRENCE. VACUUM GRAIN CLEANER.-

. APPLICATION FILED MAY13, 1918- 1,381,601 Patentedlune 14, 1921.

3 SHEETSSHEET l- C. A. TORRENCE.

VACUUM GRAIN CLEANER.-

APPLICATION man MAY 13. 1913.

1,381,601. Patenmdlune 14, 1921.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

C. A. TORRENCE.

VACUUM GRAIN CLEANER" I APPLICATION FILED MAY 3| I918- 1,381,601 PatentedJune 14, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEEY 3- LIITIVEEJL'F PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES ARGYLE 'IORRENCE, OF REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN, GANADA VACUUM GRAIN-CLEANER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patent d J 14 1 21 Application filed May 13, 1918. Serial No. 234,215.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Crrannns AneYLn Ton- RENCE, a citizen of the United States of America, and residing in the city of Regina, in the Province of Saskatchewan, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vacuum Grain- Cleaners, of which the following is the specification.

This invention relates to improvements in grain cleaners and loaders, and the objects of the invention are to facilitate cleaning and loading grain in a continuous operation, to permit of ready inspection of the machine during the working of the same, to render the several parts of the machine capable of being readily adjusted, to so control the current of air delivered to the machine that the pressure may be regulated to suit the requirements of the stock being treated, and generally to adapt the several parts of the machine to better perform the functions required of them.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists essentially of the improved construction particularly described and set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings forming part of the same.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved machine.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the easing showing the vacuum chambers therein.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the improved machine.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section of the revoluble screen showing the relative sizes of the mesh of each screen.

Like characters of reference refer to like parts in the several figures.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the improved grain cleaner and loader comprising the casing 10 operatively supported on the standards 11 and 12 carried by the platform 13, which in the embodiment illustrated is supported on runners 14 but may be carried by ground wheels or the like if such is found desirable.

The standards 11 engage at their upper ends with the transversely extending members 15, which are secured in position in any suitable manner and these transverse members are braced from the said standards by the members 16.

The casing 10 is subdivided into upper and lower port ons 17 and 18, in the former of which a cylindrical screen 19 provided with end walls of a smaller mesh thanthe cyllndrical portion is revolubly mounted, the said cyllndrical screen being carried by a screen 21 extending diametrically and longitudinally therethrough.

The screen 21 is mounted on the; shaft 20 on one end of which a rope pulley 22 is mounted and about this rope pulleya flexible member 23 is wound, one end of the flexible member carrying the balance weight 24 adapted to slidably operate in the casing 25 which is secured to one of the standards 11. The other end of the flexible member 23 is manually controlled and when a pull is exerted thereon the cylindrical screen 19 may be revolved through half a revolution thereby reversing the screen 21 for an ob'ect which will be made clear hereafterhe upper wall of the casing 10 is provided with a doorway 9 to permit of the screen 19 being removed and changed to suit the stock being treated.

Themesh of the screen 19 is somewhat larger than the mesh of the screen 21, and the mesh of the end walls of the cylindrical screen is small enough to arrest any dirt or other foreign matter, and prevent the passage of the same through the screen but at the same time the passage of air through the screen is readily effected.

A different cylindrical screen 19 is used when cleaning'different kinds of stock, and the mesh of the cylindrical screen 19, the

screen 21, and the end walls of the cylindrical screen will be of such sizes as to properly perform the functions required, but the sizes of the meshes relatively to each. other will be such as has been stated above.

It will thus be seen that only one, kind of stock can be treated effectively by a particular cylindrical screen, and when a different stock is to be treated a different cylindrical screen has to be substituted, so that the applicant does not wish to definitely state the exact size of the mesh as, of course, he could only do so with respect to a particular stock, and the applicant retains the right to use screens of different mesh and does not de sire to limit himself to the use of screens of fixed, determined size.

The lower portion 18 of the casing is subdivided into two vacuum chambers 26 and 27, separated by an angularly disposed wall 28, which extends only across the lower portion of the chambers and upon the upper edge of this wall a screen 29 is mounted, the said screen terminating just clear of the rotating screen 19.

Behind the screen 29 a vertical wall 30 extends across the upper end of the lower portion .18 of the casing 10, and this wall carries a hinged door 31, the lower edge of which is beveled as shownat 32, so that when the door isclosed tightly against the wall 28 the chamber 27 is cut-1 off from the chamber 26. The door 31 is designed to be manually actuated and to this end I provide a rod 33 pivotally connected at one end to the said door, the other end extending through the lateral wall of the lower portion 18 of the casing, where it terminates in the hand grip 34, so that by exerting a pull on the said grip the door 31 may be opened.

Intermediate of the lower portion 18 of the casing and the chamber 27 a hopper 35 is located, the side walls of the hopper being formed respectively by one wall of the casing 10 and the transversely extending wall 30, while the end walls 8 are angularly disposed and converging as shown at Fig. 3. The lower ends of these converging walls form a discharge outlet which is closed by the door 36 carried by the hinge rod 37 passing through the outer wall of the casing 10 and the transversely extending wall 30, the said hin e rod being provided onthe outer end with a hand grip 38 designed to co-act with either of the locking members 39 so that the door may be held in the desired position either fully open or closed as is found necessary. 7

Below this hopper a door 40 is provlded in the lateral wall of the chamber 27 and i this door is provided on the inner face with the brace 11. Inspection windows 42 and 43 are provided so that thevoperator can readily see into the chambers 27 and 26 and observe how the machine is performing its work.

In the lower wall of the compartment 27 an outlet conduit 4a is provided, through which chaff, dirt and other roughage separated from the grain is discharged, and this conduit is provided with a bafiie plate or valve 45 provided with a hinge pin 16 which is offset at the outer end, and adapted to coact with the pins 4E7 carried by the bracket .48 and so control the opening: of the said valve. This hinged pin may be manually rotated, so that the valve could be opened to the desired extent and permitof the free discharge of the roughage from the machine.

In the bottom of the compartment 26 a conical discharge conduit -49 is provided, adapted to engage with the upper end of the branch pipe 50 which communicates with the vertically disposed pipe 50 housing a vertically disposed worm 51 adapted to feed the clean grain into the hopper or box 57.

The branch pipe 50 and hopper '57 'are provided with fiat plate valves 51 and 52 provided with shanks 53 and 541 pivotally hinged to the pipe and hopper respectively and carrying on their outer ends balance weights 5 1 and 55 which may be adjusted to suit the well-working of the valves.

The valve 52 is located belowthe lower end of the vertical pipe 50 and the worm 51 operates above this valve, being rotatably supported at the lower end by the spider 56 while at the upper end it is journaled in the cover 56 of the said pipe.

Rotary motion is transmitted to the worm by the beveled gears 100 and 101 the latter of which is carried by a spindle 102 driven by a chain 103 which engages with a sprocket 104 on the counter shaft 105 Thisshaft is suitably journaled in a bearing carried by the pipe. 50 and is provided with pulleys 106 and 107. the latter of which is driventhrough a belt 108 from any suitable source of power.

The lower end of the pipe 50 is attached to the hopper 57 which is connected to the fan casing 58 and the discharge spout 59 respectively.- This hopper is provided with a curvilinear baffle plate or wall 60 which discharges the grain delivered from the pipe 50 in front of the air blast, delivered to the hopper 57 from the fan B.

The fan casing houses the usual fan shaft 61 carrying vanes 62, and this fan shaft is rotatably mounted in thebearing 63 carried by the pedestal 64, and is provided with a pulley 7 which is connected by means of the belt 109 to the pulley 106 carried by the counter shaft.

The upper portion 17 of the casing 10 is connected through the orifice 68 with the pipe 68 which is connected at the lower end 68 with the intake of the fan casing 58 so that when the fan is in operation a partial vacuum is created in the casing 10. f

The discharge spout 59 is connected at the lower end to the hopper 57 by means of the flexible joint which is provided with a door 69 so that the operator may on opening the said door remove any grain which might have lodged in the discharge pipe 59' after the machine has been stopped.

It will be understood that should the machine be in commission and suddenly stop for any reason whatever, the grain being discharged from the spout 59 would be liable to gravitate back from the bottomof the said spout and before re-startingthe machine it would be necessary to remove this grain.

Toward the upper end of the discharge spout an orifice covered by a sieve7l is provided, and this orifice may be closedby the door 72 which is slidably mounted on the spout. The upper end of the discharge spout 59 terminates in an elbow 73 having an orifice in the bend thereof, which orifice is covered by a sieve'fll;

The discharge spout 59 is held in the desired position or inclination by means of the flexible member 75 which passes around a drum 76 supported from the casing 10 and this drum is provided with a ratchet wheel 77 designed to be engaged by the gravity pawl 78, so that the discharge spout. 59 can be set at the desired inclination. The: drum 76 is manually rotated by the crank handle 7 9 mounted thereon.

The grain feeding spout 80 is connected. to the inlet pipe 6 on the upper-portion 17 of the casing 10 by means ofthe flexible connection 81, and this pipe communicates with a hood 82 in the interior of the casing so that the grain is discharged downwardly into the compartment 26.

The lower end of the feed spout 80 is provided with afiexibl'e connection 83, which is in turn connectedto the air valve 84-designed to rest on the grain whichis being fed tothe machine. This air valve is: of unique construction and is provided with inlet openings 85 at the bottom, while on the upper end it is provided with orifices 86, designed to be closed by the downwardly depending flange 87 of the rotatable cover 87' thereby controlling the supply of air which enters the valve from above.

The upper end 68 of the pipe: 68 is so located that it is covered-by the end walls of the cylindrical screen 19 and this'pipe is provided intermediate of its length. with a doorway 88 designed to control the suction current delivered to the fan. The assembly of the several parts will be readily understood from the foregoing description.

When the machine is'ln use, the inclination of the discharge spout 59 isadjusted:

and the air valve of the grain inlet pipe 80 is then placed on the grain to be cleaned. The screen 19 is now rotated by meansof the flexible member 23 to which a pullis applied by the operator and the screen 21 angularly disposed to the desired inclination' The prime mover is then set in motion and the counter shaft thus rotated, the saidmotion being transmittcdfrom thebelt drive 109 to the pulley 7 on the above shaft, so

rotating the fan, while at the same time the chain drive103 rotates the gears 100and 101 and so operates the worm 51.

During the rotation of the fan, grain and air are drawn through the feedspout 80 and into the casing 10, and as the cubic measure-- ment of the casing is relatively larger than the bore of the feedspout, a vacuum. is created in the casing;

While the stock is passing through the.

feedspout it is held in suspension in the air, but on entering the compartment 17 of the casing 10' there is a reduction of air pressure, and'while the lighter chaff and roughage and dirt continue to be held in suspension, the heavier, good: grain gravitates down into thelower portion 18 of the casing; The light .chafi' and roughage is carried by the air and the roughage which collects: on the cylindricalscreen 19 is held thereon bythe suction of the fan or wind pressure pressingthe said roughage against the cylindrical screen, and any .finer roughage or chafi that passes through the cylindrical screen will collect onthe screen 21 and will be held thereagainst in the same manner as the heavier roughage against the cylindrical screen, while the fine roughage and dirt which pass through the screen 21 is arrested by the small mesh of the end walls of the cylindrical screen.

It will be seen: that. it is necessary to frequently clean the screens 19 and 21 when the deposit of roughage thereon becomes too thick, and when such is the case the operator of the machine pulls the flexible member 23 rotating the cylindrical. screen 19 and the screen 21 through half a revolution, so that the roughage will now be located on the back portion ofthe cylindrical screen and theiback of the screen 21. V

The air passing. through the cylindrical screen and screen 21 will tend to dislodge the roughage adhering to the rear side of the cylindrical screen and screen 21,so that this roughage will then;fal1 into the hopper 35 and be delivered to the chamber 27 from whence it is discharged from the machine.

It will be quite apparent that there will beno suction behind the cylindrical screen 19 tending to prevent the roughage being discharged. into the hopper 35 owing to the fact thatthe circulation of the air takes place through the feed spout 80, the upper portion 10 of the casing, through the mesh ofthe cylindrical screen 19, screen 21, and thence through the end wall of the cylindrical screen into the pipe 69, and screen 21, the reduction of pressure which takes place in the chamber 26 and the chamber 17 of the casing 10 all0ws the good grain tobe separated from the roughage, etc. 3

It will be evident that since the inlet end of the pipe 68 is covered by theend walls of the cylindrical screen 19 the roughage and dirtcannot pass into the pipe 68' and be delivered to the fan so that consequently the air which passes from the pipe 68 does not carry any dirt suspension. When the machine is normally in working order, the door 31 will hang in a vertical position and any roughage that passes through the screen 29 will be delivered'to thechamber 27 Any roughage which is deliveredto the hopper and it willbe necessary to periodically clean this chamber out.v

The cleaning of this chamber should not in any way affect the continued operation of the machine, and to prevent air entering through the conduit 44 during this cleaning operation and gaining access to the chamber 26. The rod 33 is actuatedso that the door 31 will assume the angularly disposed position shown in Fig. 2 thereby closing off the passage to the chamber 27 from the chamber 26 through "the screen 29. The hinge rod 37 is now actuated so that the door 36 will be closed thereby closing off the upper portipn '17 of the casing 10 from the chamber 2 It will now beclear that noair could enter through'the chamber 27 into the upper'portion 17 of the casing 10 and the chamber 26 and so destroy the vacuum therein. The valve 45 is now operated to allow the rough age and dirtwhich has been collected in the chamber 27 to be withdrawn therefrom and tions of the casing 10 from which it has.

been previously cut off. The screen 29 will 7 be of any desired mesh and may be changed to suit the stock being cleaned. The cover 87 has a downwardly depending flange with a pair of orifices in it and is designed to perform the following function.

, If at any time the pipe 80 becomes clogged, that is to say, if too much grain is drawn through the pipe 80 which thus becomes overloaded, then the unloading ofthe pipe may be brought aboutby operating the cover 87 so thata certain amount of air will be delivered through the openings 86and the prevent too much grain being drawnthrough the pipe 80 which thus becomes unloaded.

1 It will be quite evident that a stream of air passing through the tube of the valve would prevent the overloading of the pipe 80, and if. the cover 87 is primarily set in the proper position, so that the openings 86 partly register with the openings in the downwardly extending flange of the cover, then overloading of the pipe 80 will be entirely eliminated. i

The air delivered to the casing '10 now passes through a pipe 68 to the inlet of the fan B and the air is then delivered under the action of'the fan to the hopper 57 The good cleaned grain which has been delivered into the compartment 26 passes through the the front of thecurvilinear wall orbafiie 60.

and is delivered in front. of the air blast from the fan. It will be evident that by employing two valves 51 and 52 .that the air cannot in-any. way pass through the pipe 50* and branch pipe 50 and so reach compartment 26. .1

The two valves 51 and 52 will never be opened simultaneously and the first said valve will automatically open when .the weight of grain above thesame' reaches a predetermined vweight which will counter balance the weight 5%? and soopen the valve allowing thegrain to, be fed at predeterminedintervals to the worm 51. r

The clean grain delivered to. the hopper 57 will be held in suspension in the air blast delivered to the said hopper from thefan and the grain will be carried by the discharge pipe 59 and'delivered throughthe discharge elbow 73 'to the blast where it is bagged or collected. 1 a The inspection of each step in the cleaning process can be seen by looking through the panels 42 and 43, so that once thema chine is adjusted to the particular stock being'treated, nothing requires. attention eX- cept to see that the screen 19 and the fan-B perform their necessary functions.

The regulation of the draft of air delivered to the fan Bis taken care of by opening the door 88 to the required extent! while to prevent the grain being discharged from the pipe 59 under excessive, force, the door 72 may be opened and thus reduces the pressure of the air draft through the said pipe so that the clean grainwill be. discharged from the elbow 7 3 in a continuous and easy flowing stream. 1 1 Hut 1 claimas my invention is:

1. In a machine of the class described, a casing, vacuum'chambers inthe lower part of the casing, a' conduit operatively connected to one of the chambers, automatically actuated valves in the conduit, a fan opera tively connected to the casing, and a revoluble screen in the casing above the said chambers, the said screen being formed with a V chambers, a worm rotatably mounted in the conduit, a hopper connected with the conduit, a fan operatively connected to the easing and the said hopper, and means for rotating the worm to deliver grain from the conduit to the hopper in advance of the air current. v

3. In a machine of the class described, a casing having vacuum chambers therein, a hopper in one of the chambers, a conduit extending from the other chamber, a fan operatively connected to the casing, and means for delivering the grain from the conduit in advance of the air discharge conduit of the fan, as and for the purpose specified.

4. In a machine of the class described, a casing subdivided into upper and lower portions, a transverse wall located in the lower portion, a screen above the wall and in alinement therewith subdividing the lower por tion into two chambers, a discharge conduit on one of the chambers, a fan operatively connected to the casing, a hopper connected to the lower end of the conduit and the dis charge of the fan, and means for preventing air passing through the conduit into the casing.

5. In a machine of the class described, a casing having vacuum chambers therein, a discharge conduit connected to one of the chambers, air bafiie means in the said conduit, a discharge spout connected to the other chamber, baffle means in the said spout and a fan operatively connected to the casing.

6. In a machine of the class described, a casin having vacuum chambers therein, a cylindrical screen rotatably mounted above the vacuum chambers, a screen extending diametrically across the said screen, a fan operatively connected to the casing, a discharge conduit connected to one of the chambers, and a feed spout connected to the casing.

7. n a machine of the class described, a casing having vacuum chambers therein, a screen rotatably mounted in the casing and having end walls formed as screens, a door above the screen, a grain feed spout, a grain discharge conduit connected to one of the chambers and fan operatively connected to the casing.

8. In a machine of the class described, a casing, a grain feeding spout connected to the casing, a fan, a revoluble cylindrical screen in the casing intermediate of the said spout and fan, manually actuated means for revolving the screen in one direction and gravity controlled means for revolving it in the opposite direction.

9. In a machine of the class described, a casing, a conduit connected to the casing having a branch arm, a worm rotatably mounted in the branch arm, a valve in said conduit, a valve below the worm a hopper connected to the lower end of the branch arm, a fan connected to the hopper, a discharge pipe connected to the hopper, a pipe connecting the fan and casing, and a feed pipe connected to the casing.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES ARGYLE TORRENCE.

Witnesses:

LILY STEPHENSON, M. A. PALMER. 

